New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-02-16
PENSION VETO.
President Cleveland Returns to the House
Without His Approval the Dependent
Pension Bill.
He Treats Fxhaustively the Whole Question Of
Pensions and Strongly Fortifies the
Position Taken
Returned DisaDproye

i /. q :.
Position Taken.
Returned DisapDrove
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1.-THE president to-
day sent the following message to the house
OF representatives:
herewith return without my approval House
Bill No. lO,45l, entitled IAN act for the relief
of dependent parents and honOrabiy discharged
soieIers and sailors who are now disabled and
dependent upon their own labor for support"
Ihls IS the first general bill that has been sane
TONED by congress since the close of the late
civil war permitting pension 10 the soldiers
ana sailors who served in that war upon the
ground OF service and present disability alone,
and in the entire absence of any injuries re-
celveG by casualties or incidents of such service
Wh1ie by almost constant LEGISLATION since the
close of the war there has been compensation
result of military service in the Union army.
and While a great number Of laws passed
Tor that purpose. have been admins
tered with great liberality, and have been
supplemented by numerous private acts to reach
special cases, there has not, until now, been an
aVoWed departure from the principle thus far
aohered TO respecting Union soldiers, that the
bounty OF the government in the way OF pen
slons IS generously bestowed when granted to
those who, in the military service and the line
OF military duty, have to a greater or less ex-
tent, been disabled. But it is mistake TO sup
pose that service pensions such as are permitted
by the second section of the bill under con-
olueEdGlOIl are new TO our LEGISLATION. In 1918,
thlrty-hve years after the close of the Revoiu-
tlonary war, there were granted to soldiers en-
gagged in that struggle, conditional upon service
until the end of the wal. or for a term not
less than nine months, and requiring every ben
etciary under the act to be one who is, or there
after Dy reason OF his reduced circumstances in
life shall be, in need of assistance from his coun
Try Tor support. Another law of like character
was passed in 1928 requiring service until the
close OF the revolutionary war: and still another
passed In 1884, providing for those persons not
CT mi 70 INr1t xyo1
Two years at some time during the war, and Civ
Ing proportlonate sum to those who had served
not less than six months. A service pension
law was passed for the benefit of
THE SOLDIERS OF 1912
In the year 1S71-ffty-six years after tie close
OF that war-which required only sixty days
service; and another was passed in 1S7S-sixty-
three years after the war-requiring only four
teen days service The service pension bill passed
~ tits session of congress, thirty-nine years
after the close of the Mexican wal, for the bene-
ht OF the soldiers of that war, requires either
some degree of disability or dependency, or that
the claimant under its provisions should be
he should have served sixty days or been
actually ENGAGED in battle. It will he seen
t chat the bill OF 1918 and the Mexican pension
bill being thus passed nearer the close Of
were engaged than the others, one thirty-five
years and the other thirty nine years after the
termination OF such wars, embraced persons
who We're advanced in age assumed to be COM
parat1Vely few in number, and whose crcum-
stances, dependence and disabilities were
The other laws referred to appear to have been
passed at q time so remote from the military
s service OF the persons which they embraced that
and need. The Number Of enlistments
made during the revolutionary war is
stated to have been 309, 791, and in the war OF
1872, 576,622; but it is estimated that, on &C
count OF repeated e-enlistments, the number OF
individuals engaged in those wars did not ex-
coed one-half of the number represented by
these figures. In the war with Mexico the num-
Der OF enlistments is reported to be ll2, go
which representsa greater proportion of indi-
IN the ene tn
slons granted under all the laws to soldiers of
the REVOLUTION Is given at so, O69: to soldiers Of
the war OF 1872 and their widows, 6o,175; and
the soldiers OF the Mexican and their wild
ows, up to June 80, 1885, 1913. This number
OF pensions was granted to the soldiers of war
involving much hardship, for disabilities in
Cured as result of such service, and it was not
until within the last month that the few re-
manning SURVIVORS were awarded q service pen
sion.
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION
terminated nearly twenty-five years ago. The
number of men furnished for it's prosecution
was said to be 2.772,4Os No corresponding
number of statutes has ever been passed to
cover every kind of injury or disability incurred
in the military service of any war. Under these
statutes SCI, SIG pensions have been granted
from the year 1861 to June SO. 1886, and more
rolls by private acts passed TO meet cases, many
of them Of questionable merit-which the gen
eral laws did not cover. On july l, 1856, $685.
1853 pensioners of all classes were upon the pen
sion rolls. Of whom 3O5, GO5 were survivors of
the war of the Rebellion and their widows and
dependents. For the year ending June 80,
1887. S75,OOO.OOO have been appropriated for
the payment OF pensions, and the amount ex-
pended for that purpose from 1861 to July 1.
1886, is $5os, 624,s11.15. While annually pay
already, granted, it is now proposed
by the bill under consideration to award a sery-
ice pension to the soldiers of all wars in which
Of course. the war of the Rebellion. and TO pay
those entitled to the benefits of the act the SUM
OF $12 per month. So far as it relates to the
soldiers OF the late civil war. the bounty it
affords them is given thirteen years earlier than
1t has been furnished to the soldiers of anv
other wal. and before large majority Of it's
benefic1aries have advanced in age beyond the
strength and vieor of the prime of life. Il ex-
acts only a military or naval service Of three
months, without any requirement of actual
engagement with an eremy in battle, and with
out a subsection to any OF the actual dangers Of
war. the pension it awards is allowed to en-
listed men who have not suffered the least in
jury, disability. loss or damage of any kind. in
CURED in or in degree referable to their mil
1tary service, including those who
NEVER REACHED THE FRONT AT ALL.
and those discharged from rendezvous at the
close OF the war, ii discharged three months
after enlistment. Under The last call of the
president for troops, in December. 1864, 1903
men were furnished who were thus discharged.
The section allowing this pension does, how
ever, require, beside a service OF three months
and an honorable discharge, that those seeking
the benett,of the act shall be such as ARE now
or may hereafter be suffering from mental or
physical disability not the result OF their own
vicious ha bits or gross carelessness, which inca
FACILITATES them for the perfo nance of labor in
such degree as to render Them unable to earn
support and who are dependent upon their
daily labor for support. It provides further
that such persons shall, upon making proof of
the fact be placed on the list of invalid pen
sicners of the United States. and be entitled to
receive for such total inability 60 secure their
subsistence by daily labor Sl2 per month:
aud such pension shall commence from
the date of the filing of the application in the
pension Office upon proof that the disability chen
existed and continued during the existence of
the same in the degree herein provided: that
persons who are not receiving their pensions UNI
der existing laws or whose claims are pending
in the pension Office, NAV bv application to the
commissioners OF pensions, in such form as he
may prescribe. be "beneficiaries under this act
at Is Of the utmost Importance that statutes
which. like pension laws should be literally ad-
nan1stered as measures OF benevolence in behalf
Of worthy beneficiaries. should admit of no UNI
certainty as to their general objects and couse-
quences Upon careful consideration of the
of the section of the bill above given it
seems to me to be uncertain and liable to sich